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Tomorrow I’ll read to my daughter’s third-grade class in practically the first Halloween-like thing I’ve done. I’m a a bit concerned that I haven’t quite figured out my daughters’ costumes yet, but hey, I’ve got two days. (Crap! Two days!) Anyway, here are two of my favorite Halloween picture books for all of you librarians/teachers/moms who might need something to read to a preschool or early elementary school class.

This one is always a winner: The Hallo-wiener, by Dav Pilkey. It’s the story of a dachshund who is always teased by his doggie classmates, but especially after his well-meaning mother gives him a hot-dog costume for Halloween. But when his doggie friends are spooked by a ghoul, it’s the little dog who saves the day. It’s a funny book, but you can add a little spooky suspense when the ghoul comes into the picture.

The other book that I found more recently is The Ugly Pumpkin, by Dave Horowitz. It’s about a pumpkin that isn’t picked for Halloween because he looks so strange. As he travels through November, he comes upon more like him and realizes that he’s not a pumpkin at all. He’s a squash! And he’s just in time for Thanksgiving! Cute twist on the ugly duckling story with a nice transition to the next holiday on the calendar.

Later today, I’ll write about the books I’m taking to the third-grade class, but right now I have some costumes to pull together.

2 comments:

Loree Burns
said...

Ack! You totally scooped me! I was going to blog about THE UGLY PUMPKIN on Halloween, complete with a photo of the ugly pumpkin (a rouge butternut squash that came up in our garden) we made for my daughter's kindergarten class. I was sure it was going to be a totally unique post ...

The Rundown

One of the bestselling preschool books of recent times was Walter the Farting Dog. At the same time, the American Library Association named as one of its best books Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, a book in which Mr. Rosen talks about his despair over the death of his son. I believe that, for most of us, what we want lies somewhere between a flatulent canine and overwhelming grief.